1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to Web-based sever testing tools and, particularly, to an improved method for enhancing control of Web-based server testing.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Web application and database server testing tools, such as Segue Software""s SilkPerformer running on Windows NT do not provide adequate methods of control at the granularity level required.
SilkPerformer is a tool that enables simulation of worldwide web users of an e-business site. As a single NT machine does not have the capacity required to xe2x80x9cstress-testxe2x80x9d an S/390 server (for example), SilkPerformer""s xe2x80x9cmulti-machinexe2x80x9d option may be implemented to invoke simulation xe2x80x9cagentsxe2x80x9d on multiple NT machines, which are controlled at a central NT workstation, to increase the number of virtual users participating in the simulation. Due to the structure inherent in both Windows NT and the Segue product, there is no method for operator manipulation of the xe2x80x9cpathxe2x80x9d or parameters of the workload once it has been started. There is additionally no method available to view, from a global perspective, the cumulative status of the test as it is being run as Segue only writes test statistics to the repository at the conclusion of the test.
It would thus be highly desirable to provide, in a web-based server test scenario, an additional level of control so that a test operator could dynamically xe2x80x9cfocusxe2x80x9d the test on any specific function that needs further testing. This level of control is required to ensure that the test operator may manipulate the test as it progresses to either correct or prevent errors from occurring which may adversely affect the outcome of the test. Via the use of cumulative statistics, an operator may become immediately aware of any problem or may be able to notice trends leading to a failure situation.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a platform-independent, self-adjusting control and execution system for testing and simulating users of a web server.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an enhancement for a web-based test tool to provide greater control over simulation of users accessing a web server of an e-business site.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an enhancement for a web-based test tool to provide control over simulation of users accessing a web server of an e-business site by enabling the test operator to manipulate the test as it progresses to either correct or prevent errors from occurring which may adversely affect the outcome of the test.
Thus in accordance with the invention there is provided a control mechanism to be used in conjunction with a web-based server testing tool that provides a level of control required to meet a comprehensive set of testing requirements. In order to achieve the required testing level granularity, and provide test-tool independence, the inventive control mechanism is provided external to a web-based server testing tool. As the tool is web-based, control over the web-based workload is enhanced.
The inventive tool is implemented for testing web-based products, and requires the simple configuration of test agents to operate as the workload would. A database, such as DB2 (v.6.1), may be implemented for storing all of the configuration information and Net.Data and IBM HTTP Server 5.2 product may be implemented for providing the pathway which delivers test configuration information to a xe2x80x9cweb-awarexe2x80x9d client. Using the same pathway, information about the progress of any ongoing testing is stored in DB2 during test execution. Once these statistics exist in DB2, the strong analytical ability of the database is utilized to produce a web-page, via a Net.Data macro, that would provide a global view of the ongoing tests to the operator. The design which meets all of the aforementioned criterion requires a plurality of DB2 tables. For example, at least six (6) DB2 tables may be implemented which are related to one another to provide an extremely flexible method of delivering test configuration options to each xe2x80x9cvirtualxe2x80x9d user as they request this information. The granularity of control using the present invention ranges to one parameter set for the entire test all the way down to having a different parameter set for each xe2x80x9cvirtualxe2x80x9d user. Further tables may be implemented, for example, to contain log data in the following categories: response time, errors, and good/bad count, and further, to include information about each transaction that is available.
Advantageously, the testing tool enhancement of the invention is self-adjusting, providing xe2x80x9cfeed-backxe2x80x9d information which may be used to automatically adjust test parameters and terminate malfunctioning tests, thereby optimizing the test environment. Furthermore, the present invention may be used by any web-based testing tool provided that the test tool can parse HTML pages and extract data into variables, and, moreover, may be implemented on a variety of system platforms.